Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I made this ice cream recently as an experiment and it turned out delicious. It was going to be called hot fudge ice cream, because hot fudge is what I used to flavor it, but it has an almost light airy texture and tastes just like the nougat of a Three Musketeers candy bar!

I have recently discovered that you can make homemade sweetened condensed milk at home using dry powdered milk—and so far, I cannot tell the difference. I have a nice storage of powdered milk (don’t mistake it for instant dry milk, which isn’t the same)! We were looking through our food storage recently and realized we have a bunch of dry powdered milk that is coming upon it’s “use by” date. I also have a great book, I Can't Believe It's Food Storage, by Crystal Godfrey—who I consider the queen of food storage. She has all the best ideas of things to do with your food storage. Some may not know, but us Mormons try to have many things in our food storage that would be useful if there comes a time of emergency or say loss of job/income. We try to be prepared as you never know what kinds of things can happen. Having seen floods and earthquakes this past summer as well as other times, I’m even more convinced of the importance of having a good supply of things we might need. Anyway, that’s where having “extra” comes in. And long story not so short, that’s why we have a bunch of dry powdered milk.

The key is to rotate it properly. I wasn’t quite up to par with using it, because I kind of grew up having to drink powdered milk and I just don’t care for it. I still don’t think I could just drink it (maybe in an emergency), but I’ve discovered it is so useful and even good in many other things—like this ice cream! Keep on reading, I made fudge, too—and you’d never know it wasn’t store bought sweetened condensed milk from a can!

In Crystal’s book (check out her website sometime at Everyday Food Storage), she gives a recipe for homemade sweetened condensed milk. It could not be more simple.

Combine ingredients in a blender and mix thoroughly. Scrape sides of blender bowl and continue to blend until well combined. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator

I first made the condensed milk and used it for fudge which turned out fantastic. You would never know it wasn’t canned sweetened condensed milk! I’ll share that with you in a minute.

The ice cream was my second attempt at seeing how the homemade condensed milk would work. I was kind of just making something up as I went along and after looking through the fridge, I found half a jar of hot fudge sauce and decided I’d flavor a chocolate ice cream with it. It was simple and turned out great!

In a blender, combine the hot fudge and 1 cup of cream and mix until well incorporated. Scraped sides of blender. Add the condensed milk, remaining cream, and salt and blend to combine well. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 20 minutes.

A few minutes before it is finished churning, drizzle in the melted chocolate. Store in the freezer in an airtight container.

This ice cream really was light and fluffy with just a hint of chocolate flavor, just like the center of a Three Musketeers candy bar and the bits of chocolate were a perfect addition. Try it! Better yet, try that homemade sweetened condensed milk. Crystal also has a recipe for making your own evaporated milk that I plan to try soon.

Here’s the fudge made with the homemade condensed milk. This is just the same simple recipe you can find at Eagle Brand with sweetened condensed milk and melted chocolate chips. Crystal has a recipe in her book. I’ve pretty much made that same recipe, but adapted it just slightly. I have found with fudge that I like to put extra vanilla in it. I tried it once and found it to be just a little more creamy and I really like the kick of flavor. I think it would be fun to try other flavor extracts, too. I love almond extract and raspberry was well. Wish I could “afford” (my gut and hips) to just make lots of different kinds. Sigh. I was able to take most of this fudge to a ladies church activity after I made it and it was well liked there.

Easy Fudge With Walnuts made with Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3 cups (18 ounces) chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

*(see recipe above) 1 recipe of homemade sweetened condensed milk

dash of salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Line an 8x8 square baking pan with non-stick foil with the edges hanging over to easily removed the fudge from the pan. Spray lightly with cooking spray.

Melt the condensed milk and chocolate chips in a medium sized saucepan over medium to low heat. Sprinkle in the salt and stir with a spatula until smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Let set in refrigerator for a couple hours. Remove from pan, peel off foil and cut into one inch squares on a cutting board.

Don’t like walnuts—switch it up to whatever you’d like. If you add other flavorings, I’d still put some vanilla in as well. We have a shindig with friends coming up in a couple weeks and I think I’m going to try a couple other flavors of fudge!

16 comments:

Katrina, these are great recipes. I love the way the ice cream looks and I am sure it taste delicious. I have to try the sweetened condensed milk. About the fudge....I can't resist it, it is a must do for me!

That ice cream sounds delicious. I'll have to try it sometime. I've also made the homemade sweetened condensed milk, but I don't usually have the dry powdered milk on hand. I found the recipe in a cookbook that was published back in the seventies. And your right, is just like the boughten version.

My mouth is watering! The ice cream looks like Kemps Touch 'Em All Malt, my all-time favorite, and discontinued :( I wonder how your ice cream would taste if you added some malt powder? What if you chopped up your home made fudge and added that! Ok, now I'm drooling!